2nd International Meeting on
Ultrasound-Guided Minimally Invasive Therapies
Reggio Emilia, Italy
First-class experts and hands-on practice
Thyroid
After the success of the 1st TNT (Thyroid Nodule Therapies) Meeting, a new event with International speakers and the possibility to try thermal ablation devices
Meeting will start in
Rationale
Minimally invasive, ultrasound (US)-guided thyroid treatment modalities are effective and safe alternatives to surgery in patients with benign thyroid cysts, solid nonfunctioning benign thyroid nodules, and in solid hyper-functioning nodules. In addition, they may also have a role in the management of primary micro-papillary tumors or recurrent thyroid cancers.
These procedures include the use of chemical agents such as Ethanol Ablation (EA), or thermal thyroid tissue destruction through Laser Ablation (LA), Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA), Microwave Ablation (MWA) and High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU).
During the 2nd TNT Meeting, that follows the success of the 1st TNT Meeting, firstclass experts will chair outstanding speakers who will present the state-of-the-art of all ultrasound-guided thyroid minimally invasive procedures, and new horizons in the treatment of thyroid nodules.
Hands-on practice will also be available for those participants who want to try thermal ablation devices on their own.

Local organizer, Scientific Committee, Faculty
Meeting president and local organizer
Roberto Valcavi
The TNT (Thyroid Nodules Therapies) Association President
Health Director – Endocrine & Thyroid Clinic (ETC), Reggio Emilia, Italy
Scientific Committee
Baek, Jung Hwan – Seoul, Republic of Korea
Çakır, Bekir – Ankara, Turkey
Fukunari, Nobuhiro – Yokoama, Japan
Hodak, Steven – New York City, NY, USA
Mercante, Giuseppe – Milan, Italy
Novizio, Roberto – Reggio Emilia, Italy
Serres-Créixams, Xavier – Barcelona, Spain
Squarcia, Mattia – Barcelona, Spain
Valcavi, Roberto – Reggio Emilia, Italy
Faculty
Abraham, Devaprabu – Endocrinologist, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Aljammal, Jules – Interventional Endocrinologist, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Baek, Jung Hwan – Interventional Radiologist, RFA Specialist, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Baldwin, Chelsey – Endocrinologist, New York City, NY, USA
Bhaseen, Ashok – TFI International, Montreal, QC, Canada
Ceresini, Graziano – Endocrinologist, Parma, Italy
Colao, Annamaria – Endocrinologist & Molecular Oncologist, Naples, Italy
Dueñas, Juan Pablo – Endocrine Surgeon, Medellin, Colombia
Evranos Oğmen, Berna – Endocrinologist, Ankara, Turkey
Fawzy, Mohamed – Radiologist, Il Cairo, Egypt
Frasoldati, Andrea – Endocrinologist, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Fukunari, Nobuhiro – Head & Neck Surgeon, Yokohama, Japan
Giannitto, Caterina – Radiologist, Milan, Italy
Gharib, Hossein – Endocrinologist, Rochester, MN, USA
Hodak, Steven – Endocrinologist, New York City, NY, USA
Mauri, Giovanni – Interventional Radiologist, Milan, Italy
Mercante, Giuseppe – Head & Neck Surgeon, Milan, Italy
Negro, Roberto – Endocrinologist, Lecce, Italy
Nikiforov, Yuri – Thyroid Molecular Biologist, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Novizio, Roberto – Endocrinologist, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Papi, Giampaolo – Endocrinologist, Carpi, Italy
Passandi, Fateme – Endocrinologist, Teheran, Iran
Pontecorvi, Alfredo – Endocrinologist, Rome, Italy
Portioli, Italo – Endocrinologist & Internist, Dean, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Randolph, Gregory – Head & Neck Surgeon, Boston, MA, USA
Rosselet, Patrick Olivier – Endocrinologist, Lausanne, Switzerland
Russ, Gilles – Interventional Radiologist, Paris, France
Serres-Créixams, Xavier – Interventional Radiologist, Barcelona, Spain
Shuhang, Xu – Interventional Endocrinologist, Nanjing, China
Sinclair, Catherine – Head & Neck Surgeon, Malvern, VIC, Australia
Squarcia, Mattia – Interventional Radiologist, Barcelona, Spain
Turtulici, Giovanni – Interventional Radiologist, Genoa, Italy
Stan, Marius – Endocrinologist, Rochester, MN, USA
Vidili, Gianpaolo – Internist & Ultrasound Interventional Oncologist, Sassari, Italy
Valcavi, Roberto – Interventional Endocrinologist, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Volpi, Erivelto – Head & Neck Surgeon, São Paulo, Brazil
Program
Program
Day 1 - Friday 23 June 2023
8:00 – 9:00 am Registration
9:00 – 9:10 am President’s Welcome (Roberto Valcavi)
9:10 – 9:20 am Introduction (Italo Portioli)
9:20 – 9:40 am Ultrasound Normal Anatomy of the Neck and MRI & CT Scan Features (Caterina Giannitto)
9:40 – 10:00 am Surgical Anatomy of the Neck and Structures at Risk During Ablative Therapies (Erivelto Volpi)
10:00 – 10:20 am TIRADS & Scan Assistant Softwares and Artificial Intelligence (Giovanni Turtulici)
10:20 – 10:40 am Thyroid Nodular Pathology: an Overview (Marius Stan)
10:40 – 11:00 am Panel Discussion
11:00 – 11:30 am Coffee Break
11:30 – 11:50 am Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB) & Core Needle Biopsy (CNB). How to Manage with Hypervigilant Patients (Andrea Frasoldati)
11:50 am – 12:10 pm Thyroid Nodule Profiling using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and ThyroSeq (Steven Hodak)
12:10 – 12:30 pm Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) in Thyroid Interventional Procedures (Xavier Serres-Créixams)
12:30 – 12:50 pm Minimally Invasive Therapy Selection for Thyroid Lesions (Chelsey Baldwin)
12:50 – 1:10 pm Panel Discussion
1:10 – 2:00 pm Light lunch
2:00 – 2:20 pm Thyroid US-Guided Minimally-Invasive Therapies. Ambulatory or Operating Room Setting? (Roberto Valcavi vs Steven Hodak)
2:20 – 2:40 pm How to Select a Nodule for Success and to Protect Vital Structures (Catherine Sinclair)
2:40 – 3:00 pm Learning Curve of Thyroid Ablative Procedures (Gilles Russ)
3:00 – 3:20 pm Thermal Ablation for Graves’ Disease (Xu Shuhang)
3:20 – 3:40 pm Ethanol Ablation: Indication and Outcomes (Devaprabu Abraham)
3:40 – 4:00 pm Panel Discussion
4:00 – 4:30 pm Coffee Break
4:30 – 4:50 pm Thyroid Radiofrequency Ablation (Roberto Valcavi)
4:50 – 5:10 pm Hyperfunctioning Thyroid Nodule Ablation (Jules Aljammal)
5:10 – 5:30 pm Thyroid Laser Ablation (Roberto Negro)
5:30 – 5:50 pm Thyroid HIFU Ablation (Mohamed Fawzy)
5:50 – 6:10 pm Thyroid Microwave Ablation (Mattia Squarcia)
6:10 – 6:30 pm Panel Discussion
NON – CME SESSION
8:00 – 9:00 pm Dinner Symposium – Molecular Testing of Thyroid Nodules (Yuri Nikiforov)
9:00 pm Gala Dinner
Day 2 - Saturday 24 June 2023
9:00 – 9:20 am Active Surveillance in Micropapillary Cancer (MicroPTC) (Hossein Gharib)
9:20 – 9:40 am Thyroid Ablation of MicroPTC (Roberto Novizio)
9:40 – 10:00 am Thyroid Microwave Ablation of Malignant Tumors (Giovanni Mauri)
10:00 – 10:20 am Thyroid Radiofrequency Ablation of Inoperable Malignant Tumors (Jung Hwan Baek)
10:20 – 10:40 am What is the Future of Thyroid Ablation? (Gregory Randolph)
10:40 – 11:00 am Panel Discussion
11:00 – 11:30 am Coffee Break
11:30 – 11:50 am Surgical and Pathological Changes after Thyroid Ablation (Nobuhiro Fukunari)
11:50 am – 12:10 pm Clinical Cases Discussion (Juan Pablos Dueñas – Giampaolo Papi)
12:10 – 12:30 pm Patient Advocacy: a Patient’ Point of View (Ashok Bhaseen)
12:30 – 1:10 pm To Resect or not to Resect: this is the Question (Giuseppe Mercante)
FINAL REMARKS
1:10 – 1:20 pm New Perspectives for the T.N.T. Association (Roberto Valcavi)
1:20 – 2:20 pm Light lunch
• Radiofrequency
• Microwave
Participants will be split into groups (example: A, B, C, D, E, F), and each group will be assigned to one station.
The numbers of stations & tutors would be defined based on number of participants
Free Communications should be submitted to thyroid.association@gmail.com within April 30, 2023.
Attach to your email a maximum 350 words abstract on a word sheet.
Abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee of the 2nd TNT Meeting that will decide on papers acceptance.
Depending on the number of Free Communications received, the Scientific Committee reserves the right to decide whether to hold an oral presentation session or a poster session selecting for oral presentation the most worthy abstracts in terms of originality.
Abstracts should be addressed to the following items:
- thyroid imaging
- thyroid cytology and molecular testing
- thyroid ablative technologies & techniques
- thyroid ablative procedures outcomes & side effects
- clinical case series
- original clinical case reports
- others, relevant to the topic of thyroid ablation
Free Communications Session is reserved for registered participants only.
REGISTRATION RATES (VAT INCLUDED)
REGISTRATION RATES (VAT INCLUDED)
Until May 31st 2023 | Late registration / On-site registration | |
---|---|---|
Regular Registration | € 400,00 | € 500,00 |
TNT Association Members – Special Registration (*)
| € 350,00
| € 400,00
|
Students/Residents – Special Registration (*)
| € 350,00 | € 400,00 |
Regular Registration, including hands-on practice | € 480,00 | Not available (**) |
TNT Association Members – Special Registration (*), including hands-on practice
| € 400,00
| Not available (**) |
Students/Residents – Special Registration (*), including hands-on practice
| € 400,00
| Not available (**) |
Until May 31st 2023
| After May 31st
| |
Gala Dinner, Friday June 23rd, 2023, 9:00 p.m.
| € 90,00
| on request upon availability
|
(*) Together with payment, please send the certificate attesting membership of the TNT Association, student or resident status.
(**) Only participants who have registered before May 31st, 2023, will be admitted to the hands-on practice. For organizational reasons, it will not be possible to register for hands-on practice after this date.
Registration rate includes: participation in scientific and congress materials, coffee breaks and lunches, certificate of attendance.
Registration rate does not include: travel, hotel accommodation, transfers to/from airport/train stations, transfers to/from hotels, meals not included in the conference, and anything not specifically listed under “registration includes”.

Meeting venue
Best Western Classic Hotel
Via Pasteur 121/C 42122 – Reggio Emilia (RE)
Tel.: +39 0522 355411
Fax: +39 0522 333410
Email: info@classic-hotel.it
How to reach Reggio Emilia
- BY PLANE/TRAIN: From Milan Malpensa Airport, the Trenord train service line connects Malpensa to Milano Centrale in about 50 minutes. Trains depart every 30 minutes. From Milan central station, Trenitalia and Italotreno connect Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana in 44 minutes by train. Timetable on www.trenitalia.it – www.italotreno.it
From Rome Fiumicino airport, the non-stop train Leonardo Express arrives at Roma Termini station in 32 minutes. It departs every 15 minutes. From Rome Termini station, Trenitalia and Italotreno connect Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana by train in 2 h 40 minutes. Timetable on www.trenitalia.it – www.italotreno.it–From Bologna Airport the Marconi Express train connects the Bologna central station from where the Trenitalia and Italotreno connect Reggio Emilia stations. Timetable on www.trenitalia.it – www.italotreno.it
- BY CAR: Motorway A1 Milan-Bologna, Reggio Emilia exit.
